An amusing collection of three storybook style tales that turn old ideas about princesses and pirates upside down. All three tales feature feisty females who are able to defend themselves thank-you, very much! Written in breezy style with amusing illustrations, this is a refreshing picturebook...the third tale is less strong than the first two, but it is sure to delight young feminists in the making and their moms and grandmoms. 6 & up. aprincessapirateandonewildbrother.jpg

Kids who are working on rhyming words, as in word families, will have fun decoding this unusual looking book. Printed on opaque paper with black ink, the images from one page to the next are seen in the "shadows" of the forest. Familiar characters such as the "Three Bears in picnic chairs" and "Goldilocks with a candy box" appear in the foggy foggy forest. Kids will enjoy making up their own rhymes with such old favorites as the three pigs -- in curly wigs...or eating figs...or collecting twigs.

Age: Early School Years.
Award Year: 2008.
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A new take on Red Riding Hood—or to be more precise, on the big bad wolf. A reformed wolf vows to be a kind vegetarian friend in this novelty book with lift up flaps and letters a la Jolly Mailman style. He becomes so well liked that poor Red can’t take it any more and all revert to their usual roles. You have to know the original to understand this updated version.

This new telling of Goldilocks is a charmer with a beautiful golden haired doll and three bears that stepped out of a very special corner of toyland. It stays true to the story but with a vitality that is often lacking. Best of all, the over-sized picture book is graced with illustrations that give it a new life. Photographed in original miniature settings with curious details to discover, each double page spread invites young readers to linger and delight in a fantasy world that is not too scary, not too sweet, but just right!

Age: Preschool, Early School Years.
Award Year: 2009.
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Epossumondas(by Coleen Salley/illus. by Janet Stevens, Harcourt $16 Score:) A retelling of a classic noddlehead tale. Who says you can learn from your mistakes? Not Epossumondas! Preschoolers love being ever so much smarter by knowing what the "hero" of a story does not know. Stevens' oversized ladies and her cast of critters have just the over-the-top humor to match Salley's ear for making any reader into a gifted storyteller. 4–8

All the Way to Lhasa(by Barbara Helen Berger, Philomel $15.99 Score:) A boy on a horse gallops on his way to Lhasa. But a wise women on the road says he will not get there before night. Soon another boy comes along taking one step after another. Who will get there first? Exquisite paintings match the beauty of this inspiring Tibetan folktale. 5 & up.

The Brave Little Seamstress(by Mary Pope Osborne/illus. by Giselle Potter, Atheneum $16 Score:) Based on the classic Brave Little Tailor, this delightful version features a feisty little seamstress who outsmarts giants, a unicorn, a wild boar, and even the king and his 99 men! Happily ever after is refreshingly turned around as the gutsy heroine chooses her mate. 7 & up.

Please, Malese!(by Amy MacDonald/illus. by Emily Lisker, Farrar Straus $16 Score:) Based on a trickster tale from Haiti, this is a cleverly crrafted story about a fellow who manages to outsmart his neighbors. But when they try to punish him he manages to trick them again. Great good fun!

The Princesses Have a Ball(by Theresa Bateman/illus. by Lynne Cravath, Albert Whitman $16 Score:) Here's a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. But these young ladies are not dreaming of your typical ball. These ladies see hoops when they think of courts and balls! Told in sometimes uneven rhyme, it is a funny update for our time.

Where's the Big Bad Wolf?(by Eileen Christelow, Clarion $15 Score:) Detective Doggedley is on the trail of a strange looking sheep named Esmeralda who just happens to be hanging around every time the three little pigs' houses get huffed and puffed. A fun-filled fractured folktale. .